This invention relates to a delivery management system and more particularly to a Internet based delivery system that facilitates delivery date selection at the point of sale.
At least one other company has employed an Internet based goods delivery system wherein the goods can be ordered from one particular store and delivered to a designated buyer's address. For example Home Depot Company has employed an Internet based appliance delivery system for more than a year. This system enables a buyer to place an Internet based order for a branded good, and the respective good be delivered to the buyers designated address. Once the order is placed the order is sent to a respective delivery agent via the Internet. The respective delivery agent then delivers the respective good. As such, this good delivery system is an order fulfillment system. This system has a number of disadvantages, including, for example: the system can not automatically generate order reschedules resulting from refusals, “cancellations”, “damaged goods”, “suspends”, and “shorts”; nor is there a feature that adjusts the scheduling of deliveries based on the good delivery capacity.
Delivery management systems are known that provide Internet based delivery of standard sized packages, one particular example is the FEDERAL EXPRESS® goods delivery system. In this specification non-standard sized packages are packages that are not delivered by air carriers and mail delivery services, and typically are packages that weigh over about 100 lbs. (45 kg). The delivery of non-standard size packages generally requires a delivery agent who is equipped to ship and install the delivered goods. For example, there currently exists a plurality of appliance delivery services that receives the appliance from the appliance manufacturer, delivers and installs the appliance after the purchaser has ordered the appliance from a local appliance store. This entire operation is manually executed based on a delivery manifest. The delivery manifest is typically a document identifying the delivery agent's goods shipment schedule.
It is desirable to employ an Internet based goods delivery system where all parties can place orders, exchange orders, wherein the same information is available to each user on a near instantaneous basis while minimizing the need for direct human interaction. It is desirable to provide a system where workload capacity can be determined by geographic area to insure successful delivery. It is also desirable to segregate geographic areas and to allow for sharing of delivery slots to maximize utilization of the delivery agent's total capacity. It is also desirable to allow for scheduling of deliveries and assignment of deliveries as the delivery agent desires to maximize productivity. It is also desirable to employ a goods delivery system that can accommodate the rescheduling of orders and goods. Finally, it is desirable to provide a goods delivery system that can be modified to maximize the delivery efficiency by having the system accommodate changing delivery capacity.